A reservoir or a conduit?

Editor’s note: This is a reprinted column from Jack Purcell’s “On the Journey” archives. It originally appeared in The Star in 2013.

Which better describes your spiritual life – a reservoir or a conduit?

Are you storing up spiritual data to be used later? Are you thinking that when you are more mature in your spiritual journey God could use you?

You don’t have to look far to observe folks who know their Bible, but seem to be sitting on it. The church is full of people who have been soaking up spiritual information for decades and have yet to do very much with what they have learned.

What did Jesus mean when he said, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:38 (NIV)

When Jesus was talking with the woman at the well he told her that he could give her living water, and that if she had living water she would never thirst because this water will become “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Have you ever seen what happens to water when it is not free to flow? It becomes stagnant. The water that Jesus is speaking of is the divine life that indwells and becomes the life of all believers.

When His life is received by a person, the intent is for it to flow out, not to be stored up. The life of Jesus is dynamic and his purposes in you and me are thwarted when we see ourselves as a reservoir instead of a conduit, carrying his life and allowing it to flow out of us wherever we go.

Any effective witness through the life of a believer to an unbeliever is only possible when the life of Jesus is allowed to flow.

Another person, be they Christian or not, can only be loved by the release of God’s love through us, not just by our fleshly compassion.

It is important to notice in this metaphor that Jesus calls the water, “living water” – not just any water but living water. He comes to live within us not just for our benefit but to spread his presence in the world.

As you release the life of Jesus into the world, let it flow out of you like the living water that it is. If it is the life of Jesus flowing through you and from you and not just your efforts, nobody will be drowned by the flow but just refreshed by its purity.

I believe an interesting thing has happened in the evangelical church over the years, when terms like “spiritual fruit” and “being a witness” and “living for Jesus” are often used as false measuring sticks regarding the quality of a Christian’s life.

Put these together with all the other stated or implied measures of one’s faith and it is no wonder that many Christians question their value in the kingdom.

Can I encourage you with the novel idea that it is not all that complicated? You don’t need 14 classes or seminars on how to be a witness. You can be that conduit at the grocery store, the cleaners, the school and even the church.

How you act when things don’t go your way. How you act when the service is poor. What you do when you are criticized unjustly.

These are the means by which we all can release the living water. Why settle for stagnant water when living water is at your disposal.